Gas Recirculation Valve (egr Valve) problems of the 2004 Volkswagen Jetta

I have a 2004 Volkswagen Jetta tdi diesel, which has the pd type engine. This pd design has a well-known defect; specifically, an extra load is placed on the camshaft because it drives the fuel injection system, as opposed to previous vw tdi models in which an external rotary pump drove the fuel injectors. Because of this defect, vw instituted a special oil requirement for this car to satisfy the additional lubrication demands of this design. Initially that oil specification was vw 505. 01; most recently it has been changed to vw 507 or castrol oe professional 5w/30. I bought this car used with 80,000 miles on it in July, 2006, and have always had my oil changes done at vw dealerships: one in merrillville, in and one in bensenville, IL. On all but one occasion, both dealerships documented the use of vw 505. 01 compliant oil in my car. On the one occasion in which vw 505. 01 oil was not used, the dealer in bensenville, IL put a generic oil in my car that had no identifying characteristics, other than its dramatically lower price per quart. I did not notice this at the time, because at this February 23, 2008 service the dealer had also pointed out that I needed to have all 4 brake rotors and pads replaced, so I did not have a lower service cost to alert me; this service cost far more than usual and I did not realize at the time that I could tell exactly what oil they were putting in my car from the part number on my invoice; I thought that part number corresponded to the oil change service itself. On August 8, 2008, I had a catastrophic engine failure of the sort the vw service manual warns about if the wrong oil is used, ". . . Even if only a small amount of incorrect oil is added to the correct oil to top off the level. " I did not have an accident, and there were no other cars around me when the failure occurred, but I incurred about $8,000 of repair costs due to damage to my camshaft, valve lifters, total egr-intake system and turbocharger.

The contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that he had an emissions control device replaced because of a recall, specifically regarding the egr cooler in September of 2006. The vehicle began to leak coolant so he took the vehicle to a different dealer. The dealer stated that the first repair was not performed correctly and was directly related to the leak. The manufacturer offered no assistance. The recall number was unknown. The current mileage was 77,866 and failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

Engine coolant level drops approximately 1 cup each week. Dealer replaced the egr cooler.

1. Coolant light came on (1st time). 2. Brought the car to the dealership, they pressure tested the system and reported no leaks. They topped the system and charged me $100 3. Coolant light came on (2nd time). 4. Brought car back to dealership, they now report that problem as the egr cooler. They suggested I contact vw of canada to discuss this failure as it is becoming very common. 5. Called vwoc and they would not assist with this very expensive repair. Jb.

Developed large internal coolant leak @ ~47,000 miles. This is probably due to internal failure of the egr cooler. Dealer cannot id problem, but this appears to be widespread with this engine. This could result in engine failure and accident.

2004 Volkswagen Jetta tdi. Engine will stall at times due to coolant leaking internally into intake manifold through faulty egr cooler. Causing vehicle to lose steering and brake assist.